Body

Conservation research is not being done in the countries where it is most needed - a situation which is likely to undermine efforts to preserve global biodiversity. That's the conclusion of a new study publishing in the Open Access journal PLOS Biology on 29th March, led by Associate Professor Kerrie Wilson from The University of Queensland and the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions (CEED).

Drinking a high carbohydrate shake can have an acute and detrimental effect on heart function, a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) has found.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (http://www.ucr.edu) -- A group of scientists, including one from the University of California, Riverside, have discovered a long-hypothesized male determining gene in the mosquito species that carries malaria, laying the groundwork for the development of strategies that could help control the disease.

In many species, including mosquitoes, Y chromosomes control essential male functions, including sex determination and fertility. However, knowledge of Y chromosome genetic sequences is limited to a few organisms.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Researchers in the School of Medicine at the University of California, Riverside have identified an immune protein in mice that is quickly triggered in the body following infection and serves to protect the body's tissues. Called "RELMalpha," this protein, whose homologue in humans is called "resistin," is responsible more for protecting the body than attacking the parasite.

UC San Diego biologists who examined the biological impact of replenishing eroded beaches with offshore sand found that such beach replenishment efforts could have long-term negative impacts on coastal ecosystems.

The scientists, who studied the effects of beach replenishment efforts on the abundance of intertidal invertebrates at eight different beaches in San Diego County, discovered that the movement of sand onto those beaches resulted in a more than twofold reduction in the abundance of intertidal invertebrates after 15 months.

URBANA, Ill. - In the race against world hunger, we're running out of time. By 2050, the global population will have grown and urbanized so much that we will need to produce 87 percent more of the four primary food crops - rice, wheat, soy, and maize - than we do today.

Homo sapiens, the ancestor of modern humans, shared the planet with Neanderthals, a close, heavy-set relative that dwelled almost exclusively in Ice-Age Europe, until some 40,000 years ago. Neanderthals were similar to Homo sapiens, with whom they sometimes mated -- but they were different, too. Among these many differences, Neanderthals were shorter and stockier, with wider pelvises and rib-cages than their modern human counterparts.

Researchers, including an associate professor from the Medical University of South Carolina Hollings Cancer Center, say smokers who go to a doctor to be screened for lung cancer should also be encouraged to quit smoking during their visit, according to a paper co-written by Benjamin A. Toll, Ph.D., associate professor of public health at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC).

Toll is the senior author of the position statement, published online February 24, 2016, in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.

• Nurture can override nature in depression
• Stressing genetically non-depressed rats triggers despair
• Genetics and environment cause depression by different molecular pathways

CHICAGO --- Genes are not destiny in determining whether a person will suffer from depression, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study. Environment is a major factor, and nurture can override nature.

A novel investigation of how enzymatic reactions can direct the motion and organization of microcapsules may point toward a new theory of how protocells - the earliest biological cells - could have organized into colonies and thus, could have ultimately formed larger, differentiated structures.

Scientists in Brazil are using a genetic algorithm to create a realistic soundscape of birdsong that can be triggered by updates from the micro-blogging service, Twitter, which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year. Details of the computer model which mimics the behavior of a bird's songbox, its "syrinx", to create realistic sounds are published this month in the International Journal of Arts and Technology.

Archaeologists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem uncovered in central Israel the earliest known Neolithic quarry in the southern Levant, dating back 11,000 years. Finds from the site indicate large-scale quarrying activities to extract flint and limestone for the purpose of manufacturing working tools.

A group of Japanese scientists have succeeded in decoding a sugar molecule and clarifying a mechanism linked to muscular dystrophy. Their discovery has potential implications for muscular dystrophy treatment. The results of their research were published in the journal Cell Reports on February 25, 2016 EST.

In 1665 Christiaan Huygens discovered that two pendulum clocks, hung from the same wooden structure, will always oscillate in synchronicity. Today, some 350 years on, Eindhoven and Mexican researchers present the most accurate and detailed description of this 'Huygens synchronization' to date in the journal Scientific Reports. It is evident that Huygens had come up with the right explanation insofar as this was possible back then. Moreover, these insights help us to understand synchronization in all kinds of oscillating systems, such as the biological rhythms of the human body.

Autistic individuals have been frequently referred as lacking of empathy, with no or little concern for others' feelings, to the extent that a faction of media has tried to expose the role of possible autistic personalities behind extremely violent behaviors. This has led to stigmatization of this group with the public perception that autistic individuals can be cold, with no or little moral sense.